


Toys in the Attic

by nagi_schwarz



Series: Foxtrot [83]
Category: Dollhouse, Stargate Atlantis, Stargate SG-1
Genre: Crossover, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-20
Updated: 2016-03-20
Packaged: 2018-05-27 23:55:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 478
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6305383
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nagi_schwarz/pseuds/nagi_schwarz
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Written for the comment_fic prompt: <i>Any, Any, it's all just delusions in a fractured mind.</i> Stargate SG-1 and Stargate Atlantis are just scenarios to keep dolls running in the Attic. Not actually part of the main canon of the Foxtrot 'verse (call it an AU of an AU), but I had to have a Cartesian dream episode in there somewhere, right?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Toys in the Attic

"You know, you're like an obsessive fanboy," Ivy said.  
  
"Says the girl who has tuned in to every single episode of Stargate SG-1 and Stargate Atlantis since they both started playing," Topher returned. He held out the little bowl of popcorn, and Ivy plucked up a few kernels and popped them into her mouth.  
  
"I can't believe you gave the scenarios _names_ and talk about them like they're _television shows_." Ivy shook her head in disbelief. But she was still gazing fixedly at the screen, where John Sheppard was getting ready to sacrifice himself for Earth.  
  
"See, my system is highly superior to Bennet Halverson's," Topher said. "Constant sustained fear kills a doll too quickly, and then Keepers like DeWitt are constantly on the lookout to shove someone else into the Attic. You end up wasting a lot of good dolls. Scenarios like this, on the other hand, regular doses of fear tempered by humor and camaraderie, are self-sustaining. We've had Thoth in the Attic since 1994."  
  
Thoth had once been Daniel Jackson, a brilliant linguist who'd given himself to the Dollhouse to have his trauma treated after watching his parents die and then being thrown into a broken foster care system.  
  
"I can't decide if I like SG-1 or Atlantis better," Ivy said, and she finally sat down beside Topher instead of peering over his shoulder like a nosy classmate.  
  
"For a while there I felt like Foxtrot was just kind of recycling some of Thoth's plots," Topher said, "so separating Thoth into his own little microcosm paid off, even if we took a bit of a hit in processing speed. That whole Vegas thing, though – that was amazing. Foxtrot's created a way for himself to explore endless numbers of alternate realities and dimensions, and he'll be useful in the Attic till he dies of old age."  
  
Foxtrot had once been Joe Flanigan, college best friend of John Sheppard, son of Patrick Sheppard, a utilities mogul and long-time Rossum backer. When John had died his freshman year of college, Joe had naively given himself to the Dollhouse for John to be imprinted on. John Sheppard had gone on to marry (his handler) and serve a distinguished military career – until Afghanistan, where things went wrong with his second handler (and this was why other programmers shouldn't touch Topher's work). Apparently Foxtrot had gotten more caught up than previously realized in the Echo-Sierra-Victor-Kilo-Alpha disaster no one liked to talk about, and his mind had broken under the strain of knowing he as an active, so off to the Attic he went.  
  
Topher was damn pleased with himself for having come up with an interface that allowed him to view what dolls were seeing in their heads while they were in the Attic, and now he and Ivy had instant access to hours of entertainment. It was better than Netflix.

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Oscillate](https://archiveofourown.org/works/7297618) by [nagi_schwarz](https://archiveofourown.org/users/nagi_schwarz/pseuds/nagi_schwarz)




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